410 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July, 1918 



abundant and promising, and I am anxiously 

 uncertain whether next week I shall be giv- 

 ing more supers or feeding against starva- 

 tion. 



* * » 



Dr. Phillips is quoted, page 347, as saying 

 that if we had only the flowers from which 

 surplus is stored there might be no surplus, 

 the plants that each yield only a little mak- 

 ing a considerable total. I suspect that Dr. 

 Phillips had in mind not only the amount 

 of the yield, but its continuity. Take two 

 localities, A and B. At A there is a heavy 

 yield from a single source, and nothing ait 

 all from any other source thruout the season. 

 At B there is a much lighter yield from the 

 same source A has, and small amounts from 

 numerous other sources thruout the season, 

 the total amount of nectar secreted being 

 less than the total secretion at A. Yet the 

 surplus stored at B may be greater than A's 

 surplus. Altho B's total be less than A's, 

 it is continuous, keeping up constant breed- 

 ing, while at A breeding is more or less neg- 

 lected until the big rush is on, and then 

 there are not enough bees for it. Even if 

 breeding should be kept up, the bees at A 

 can do only so much gathering, anyhow. 



* « * 



After reading the excellent instructions 

 for imbedding wire, page 344, you may 

 sigh because you haven 't the electric cur- 

 rent. Well, you can follow the plan devised 

 by Miss Emma Wilson, and given to the pub- 

 lic some years ago. Indeed I suspect thajt 

 the electric plan is an outgrowth of Miss 

 Wilson 's plan. Instead of electricity you 

 use the heat of a lamp or oil stove. Take 

 your wired frame, holding it fiat, and lay 

 your foundation upon the wires. Move the 

 frame slowly over the heat, following the 

 direction of the wire, letting the tips of the 

 fingers of one hand press lightly upon the 

 part of the foundaition over the heat. A 

 little practice will teach you how fast to 

 move and how much pressure to make. 



* * * 



A. I. Eoot, please pardon an old friend for 

 insisting upon exactness in quoting scrip- 

 ture. You say, page 370, ' ' The dear Savior, 

 when he made a little repast for his fol- 

 lowers, gave them fish and honey in the 

 comb. ' ' Instead of his giving to them, 

 didn 't they give to him in response to his 

 request? In Luke 24:42, we read, "And 

 they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and 

 of an honey-comb." Even this needs re- 

 vision, for in the revised version we read: 

 "And they gave him a piece of a broiled 

 fish," no mention being made of honey. 



* » * 



"In order to prevent after-swarms from 

 the old hive, all queen-cells except one may 

 be torn down, and in a week or so the colo- 

 ny examined for eggs," page 368, June 

 Gleanings. I wonder if it wouldn't be bet- 

 ter to make that ' ' two weeks or so. ' ' It 

 is generally counted that a prime swarm is- 

 sues about the time the first cell is sealed. 



, It will be at least a week more before the 

 virgin emerges from her cell, and she does 

 well if she begins laying when eight days 

 old. That makes two weeks and a day after 

 the prime swarm before eggs are laid, pro- 

 vided everything is sped up in good style. 

 But things do not always go so fast as that, 

 and besides it is not so easy to find the first 

 few eggs that are laid; so I wonder if it is 

 best to look for eggs much short of three 

 weeks after the prime swarm issues. 



* * * 



" If I should remove a queen from a hive 

 for a few days, keeping her in a nucleus, 

 could I return her to her original hive with- 

 out introducing?" is a question asked, page 

 365. I should say it depends. If, after her 

 removal, another queen is introduced, then 

 the old queen can be returned only by being 

 introduced just the same as she would to a 

 strange colony. But if no other queen is 

 introduced, and queen-cells killed, the old 

 queen may be safely returned with the nu- 

 cleus in about ten days without any precau- 

 tion whatever. I've tried it dozens, if not 

 hundreds, of times. I don't know that the 

 bees remember her at all as their own queen, 

 for I have sometimes given them a nucleus 

 with a strange queen with equal success. 

 Incidentally I may mention that this takes 

 all the swarm out of a colony, whether it 

 contemplates swarming or has already 



swarmed. 



* * * 



In a certain time after a prime swarm has 

 issued, if no eggs are found in the mother 

 colony, it is considered advisable to give a 

 frame containing eggs and young larvae, 

 page 368. That is supposed to hurry up the 

 young queen if she is slow about laying, or 

 to show that the colony is queenless if 

 queen-cells are started. I followed that prac- 

 tice for years in the case of young queens 

 in nuclei. Then some of those New England 

 fellows said that giving such a frame was 

 quite likely to cause the disappearance of 

 the young queen. Since giving up the prac- 

 tice I think I've had fewer losses, but I'd 

 like to be sure. One thing I may mention 

 is that it is not always certain that a nu- 

 cleus is queenless when cells are started on 

 the young brood given, for sometimes I have 

 found cells started and then found the 

 young queen laying all right a few days 

 later. ^ ^ ^i^ 



You seem, A. I. Eoot, to be taking a good 

 bit of comfort from eating baked apples, 

 page 370. I eat them daily before dinner, 

 but I take them raw. I get the vitamines, 

 and are they not lost in the baking? In 

 spite of that, your way may be best for you 

 and mine for me. 



* » * 



' ' That queens lay more eggs during the 

 first vear than in any other ' ' is spoken of as 

 "a well-established fact," page 336. I 

 wonder, now, I wonder. Some have thought 

 they laid more the second year. Have we 

 anything more than guessing, either way? 



